Magnetic and micro-mechanical behavior of Cu-Ni-P-W-TiO2 hybrid composite electroplating on Al alloy substrate

Abstract

Abstract The present work has been made to improve the micro-hardness, wear resistance, low coefficient of friction and surface roughness of Cu-Ni-P-W-TiO2 hybrid composite coated Al6063 substrate which was made by electro-deposition process. Cu-Ni-P-W-TiO2 hybrid composite was electrodeposited from the modified Nickel-Watts bath solution. Coated substrates were heat-treated at various temperatures for 1 h and then the effect of heat treatment on the coating concert was studied. The inter-metallic structure was identified by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) Spectroscopy analysis. The micromechanical behavior of the coated substrates were investigated by various mechanical tests like wear, vicker’s-microhardness, surface roughness and friction. Hence the results shows that when the addition of phosphorous (P) and tungsten (W), the grain size refined gradually and the micro-hardness improved apparently. Also it is found that during the heat treatment of Cu-Ni-P-W-TiO2 coated Al6063 substrates at 300 °C, wear resistance is improved, coefficient of friction and surface roughness were reduced. This hybrid composite coating shows significantly that improves the micro-mechanical properties comparing with other composite coatings. From this VSM results, it was found that all the coated samples shows magnetic nature of the materials with lesser magnetization and coercivity values.